“Schools are a virus hotbed as the temperature drops in this extreme cold,” observes Suanne Davidson, a 6th grade middle school teacher. “Kids arrive each day homes throughout the entire community; each bringing unique pathogens into a single environment that lets the germs intermingle, mutate and spread.”
Where is your child most vulnerable in school?
We can protect our children at home, but at school it’s a whole new battleground. Kids are subjected to a host of new germs that their immune system has never seen and has not yet learned how to fight back. It is important that, as children grow, they build their immune system through exposure to new germs, but the host of germs lurking at this time of year can overwhelm these defenses. Learn how to educate our children when you send them off each morning. Here are a few tips from one parent to another, not matter what the age.
Primary School
Primary kids spend each day on shared ‘story rugs’ in a single classroom. As runny noses and sniffles abound the closest tissue quickly becomes the rug, floors and clothes. The flu is able to live very long on porous materials, especially cotton. Even your everyday items like towels, blankets and bed sheets are hotbeds for germs. Imagine what the community sit down rug in a first grade classroom must harbor!
WebMd.com suggests that we,” Limit play dates during cold and flu season. This may seem harsh, but during flu season an infected child can spread a cold or flu 24 hours before symptoms begin. Neil Schachter, MD, medical director of respiratory care at Mount Sinai in New York City, and the author of The Good Doctor’s Guide to Colds and Flu explains. “During play dates, children have intimate contact with other children because they touch toys, they touch each other’s cups, then they put their hands in mouth and touch other things and each other,” he says. “There is more contact with bodily fluid between children when compared with adults and that spreads germs,” he says. “I certainly would not encourage sleepover dates during flu season.”
Airborne viruses are particularly difficult to protect against with young children who don’t cover the nose when sneezing or coughing. Teach your child to cover their face and encourage other kids they see to do the same. Educate your children about germs and you may be surprised by the results.
Another way to fight the viruses is from the inside. Make sure children consume plenty of antioxidants and omega’s in their diet to strengthen their immune system. Giving them a simple daily dose of a live marine algae supplement will increase their immunity and provide the DHA nutrients to increase brain function.
Middle School
Middle school kids are all over the building in a single day. Adolescents are given more freedom in middle school and germs love it! There are three main places that an extremely high prevalence of germs are found: desks, keyboards and locker rooms.
Desks act kind of like your local buffet’s sneeze guard, keeping the germs at hands reach. Students love to lay their heads down on the plastic or wood surfaced desks. Germs can live over 48 hours on these surfaces, so multiply that times 7 or 8 different kids each day. I’m not very good at math, but I know that’s a lot of germs!
Computers have become a mainstay of our middle school students, but are also a ‘network’ of germs. Each keyboard is touched by hundreds of students. Adolescents are not infamous for washing their hands thoroughly during their three minute passing periods. Viruses continue their lifecycle in a new host, your child- at the touch of a mouse!
And finally, what about the locker rooms? Stinky clothes on the floor, the floors of the showers, handles on the bathroom doors-need we say more?? Gym class and team sports provide wonderful opportunities for adolescents to increase their fitness, but there are dangers everywhere.
Life
As a parent, education is the most powerful tool you have. Moms and dads can’t protect their child all day long; all we can do is give them the tools for success. Teach your children simple tips such as covering their face and washing their hands multiple times a day. Make sure they know how to properly wash their hands and have them encourage their friends to do the do the same.
So how do parents fight back and strengthen their child’s immune system? Consider adding a powerful live DHA supplement to your child’s diet on a daily basis. We can’t always get our kids to eat their Brussels sprouts, but we can give them millions of live phytoplankton cells each morning, increasing immunity and it will make them healthier and happier. PhtyOriginal has even been shown to help manage hormonal mood swings.
Jordan is a frequent content contributor to healthy living websites and publications, and is available for speaking engagements. Email [email protected] to learn more.
